Sure, it looks funny that people are hanging out in boats when another guy is only ankle deep. This is one of the reasons that people distrust journalists, but there is an explanation. The "deep water" that requires a boat to cross is probably too difficult to set a camera in, so the boats were places in a shallower area for "illustration purposes." So, what do you think: is this staging an example of journalistic "cheating" or just another way to tell a story? The flood was a couple of years ago in New Jersey. -via Arbroath

I'd like journalists to stop living out their fantasies of being filmmakers. They are supposed to convey information, not play on emotions.

We know what a flood is. If you are shown in a boat, we'll assume there's no way for you to stand anywhere. If you show us images of a burning tank in Lybia filmed under 10 different angles, we're gonna assume a sh*tload of tanks are burning.

To me, all these "illustrative" inclusions in news reports are, if not lies, manipulations.